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• patch-up
  patch-up

  noun

  an act or instance of patching or repair.
• patch up
  patch up

  Mend or repair, make whole. For example, He managed to patch up the lawn mower so it's running, or John cut his hand badly, but they patched him up in the emergency room, or Mike and Molly have patched up their differences. This term alludes to mending something by putting patches of material on it. [Second half of 1500s]

patch-up

American  

[pach-uhp] / ˈpætʃˌʌp /

noun

1. an act or instance of patching or repair.

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adjective

1. done by patching or fixing.

   a quick patch-up job.

patch up Idioms  

1. Mend or repair, make whole. For example, He managed to patch up the lawn mower so it's running, or John cut his hand badly, but they patched him up in the emergency room, or Mike and Molly have patched up their differences. This term alludes to mending something by putting patches of material on it. [Second half of 1500s]

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Etymology

Origin of patch-up

First recorded in 1900–05; noun, adj. use of verb phrase patch up

Example Sentences

So here’s what I’m thinking: Before you skulk to her bedside for an insincere patch-up job, talk to your brother.

From Washington Post • Jun. 28, 2022

We'll be radioactive debris long before this proposed patch-up job would come along.

From New York Times • Jul. 25, 2016

Prediction : 2-2 Somehow, this patch-up New York team keeps winning.

From The Guardian • May 18, 2012

Ford was forced into this odd procedure by a budding driver rebellion against recalls that look to critics like mere patch-up jobs.

From Time Magazine Archive

Now all law, all social order, all custom, is a patch-up and a concession to this separating passion of self-insistence.

From The Passionate Friends by Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)